Hawaii doubles The University of Hawaii doesn't have control of Aloha Stadium, but it can dictate how much it charges for tickets to its football games there.
football surcharge
Season tickets for prime seats affected
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comUH is increasing the surcharge for some season tickets for this season, athletic director Hugh Yoshida said.
The surcharge for seats between the 30-yard lines will increase from $25 to $50. Other seats that had a $12.50 surcharge will go up to $25.
The increases -- which affect 20,000 of the 50,000 seats at the stadium -- are to help make up for an anticipated budget shortfall and help put UH on par with other Division I athletic departments, Yoshida said.
UH first began to "scale the house" two years ago. Around $200,000 a year was generated from the initial surcharges, and UH expects to double that now.
"Premier seating pricing for athletic programs is a standard that most Division I programs are working from," Yoshida said. "It's an accepted practice across the nation."
Yoshida said he expects "some attrition, but we hope not" in season-tickets purchased. He said around 200 were not renewed two years ago. UH sold around 24,000 football season tickets a year in recent seasons.
Individual ticket prices will not be affected, Yoshida said, and 80 percent of the surcharge is tax deductible as a donation.
"Premium seat donations are based on location," he added. "You can still get season tickets in over half the stadium without any extra charge. The seats in the yellow and red sections are available with no donation at this juncture."
The athletic department anticipates a shortfall of around $1 million in projected revenue for this year. Although the department finished with a $300,000 surplus from last year's budget, it remains unclear if that money will be allowed to make up for some of the deficit.
UH president Evan Dobelle indicated last year that the surplus would be taken from the department. But associate athletic director Jim Donovan said yesterday that the money hasn't been moved or used.
UH Athletics
